Your source of news and information on the No Place for Hate/Anti-Defamation League/Armenian Genocide denial issue. We welcome your comments and suggestions and encourage you to submit relevant links, articles and blog entries for posting. To get in touch with us, please write to info@noplacefordenial.com

09/12 Boston Globe: Newton urged to cut ties to ADL program

In a move designed to prompt action by the Anti-Defamation League, the Newton Human Rights Commission voted unanimously last night to urge Mayor David B. Cohen to immediately cease the city's long-standing participation in No Place for Hate, an antidiscrimination program cosponsored by the league.

Cohen said the ADL's failure to make a stronger statement in support of the Armenian genocide recognition "is itself an injustice." He said after the meeting he anticipated deciding within days about the program's future in Newton, which he said is home to the largest Jewish population in the state.

The commission said it would consider resuming the program if the ADL's national leadership "fully and unequivocally" recognizes the murder of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as a genocide and actively supports congressional legislation acknowledging the event as genocide.

"We need to do something to send a message," said commission member, Sona Petrossian.

"This is really the most important issue that's confronted us," said Muriel Esdale, a 15-year veteran of the commission.

Before nearly 100 people at City Hall, the commission heard from dozens of residents from Newton, Needham, Cambridge, and Watertown, many of whom said that by severing ties with the program, Newton would send a strong message in advance of the league's national board meeting Nov. 1 that has the genocide issue on the agenda.

"Newton doesn't need the ADL and the No Place for Hate community," said Salpi Sarafian, an audience members who spoke. "It's a great program, but Newton can do it on its own."

"The ADL's verbal gymnastics show bad faith," said resident David Boyajian, whose July 6 letter to a Watertown newspaper about the issue led to the town's Aug. 15 withdrawal from the program.

Last month, both the commission and Cohen sent letters to Abraham Foxman, the ADL's executive director, expressing distress at the firing of Andrew H. Tarsy, regional director of the ADL's New England chapter, who had publicly veered from the league's formal position as well as at comments by Foxman that called the slaughter only "tantamount" to genocide.

Tarsy, regional director of the ADL's New England chapter, had publicly veered from the league's formal position as well as comments by Foxman that called the slaughter only "tantamount" to genocide.

After an outcry, Tarsy was rehired on Aug. 27.

David Appel, one of several members of the ADL's national board in attendance last night, said many of his colleagues were not aware of the league's position on the Armenian genocide until the Watertown Town Council voted to withdraw from No Place for Hate. He said that while many of the colleagues he has talked to do not agree with the league's official position, pulling out of the program only hurts diversity education efforts.

"This program is for students and parents in the community," he said. "Why should we sever that?"

About Us

This site was created and is managed by a group of Boston area activists formed in response to the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) denial of the Armenian Genocide and its attempts to defeat Armenian Genocide related resolutions and legislation in the U.S. Congress. To get in touch with us, please email noplacefordenial@gmail.com